Cars -- the elephant in the room

Planning consultant Brent Toderian speaks about place making

The 23-storey Homestead downtown tower is being built on a 7-storey podium, seen in green.

Brent Toderian, the man who was hired by the city to advise on Density by Design and brought the tower on a podium concept to Kingston, is in town this week to work with staff on the new combined Official Plan and Transportation Master Plan. He said it is going to be a “game changer.” The city is “working with old policy that is standing in the way of progress.”

Speaking last night at the Holiday Inn, Mr. Toderian focused his remarks on place making, creating urban environments that are places for people. “Great cities know that streets are for people not cars,” he said as he presented slides with images from cities around the world doing place making well.

He said that all credible studies show that when people arrive by walking, biking or public transit they spend more money per trip, unless they are coming by car to a specific destination.

He praised Montreal for being the best city in North America for place making, very successfully closing some city streets for parts of a day, for the summer, or even longer.

He noted that “the only thing worse than cities that don’t [create spaces for people] are cities that do it badly.”

Toderian said “it is not about taking away spaces for cars, it’s about creating places for people to do things other than being a pedestrian… making every street interesting.”

The “animation” of a street can include parklets, chairs and tables, pop-up play spaces, food trucks, and shipping containers turned into stores. These are “street openings” not “street closings.” The key to success is “predictability and consistency.”

With the audience of about 30 people compromised of members of the Downtown Business Improvement Association, the Chamber of Commerce, Tourism Kingston, KEDCO, people from the commercial real estate industry, city staff, and local councillor Greg Ridge, Toderian challenged everyone to work together. He noted that the adage that good ideas go to city hall to die is equally applicable to downtown business associations and chambers of commerce who are quick to criticize a plan before its impact can be measured. “Before it becomes too much about city bashing, every negative response to an idea can easily be from the private sector,” he noted.

Toderian praised city staff for getting past the “lazy conversation” — do tall buildings, yes or no? to seeing that it’s a “not very good building problem, not a height problem.”

Toderian said that “very few places have a more obvious story-telling opportunity” adding that Kingston is an “authentic place based on identity branding.” He gave being Canada’s first capital and The Tragically Hip as examples.

Billed as a conversation, Toderian then took questions from the audience. Mary Jo Cuerrier, Executive Director, Downtown Business Improvement Association, asked for his advice about closing Princess Street for the summer. He said the city was not ready to take such a big step. “You don’t have the skills and experience to pull it off.” He talked about a city that set up one parklet the first year with a goal of doubling that each year after. A street sale with nothing else interesting is not going to work, he added.

Members of the audience asked about more happening in neighbourhoods and in other parts of the city, not just downtown. Toderian agreed that people need places to gather close to home, too. “You can do much better city-wide.”

Responding to a question about the lack of parks and green spaces along Princess Street between Regent and Division Streets, the Williamsville Corridor, Agnew said there were mistakes that “we’re working on.” Toderian likes trees and said that they combat air pollution.

In response to a question about one-way streets, Toderian called them “traffic sewers” that are all about moving people as quickly as possible through an area and not about encouraging interactions. “Downtowns don’t need a bypass,” he said and added “If they don’t stop, they don’t shop.”

Toderian, who was a consultant to the city’s Power of Parking report, praised city council’s decision this week to support a car-sharing program, saying funding it from the Cash-in-lieu of Parking levy was smart. He was proud that a New York magazine had covered Kingston’s move to reduce parking requirements in buildings in an article titled “Steal This Idea”.

The event concluded with Toderian reaffirming his belief in better placemaking. “It’s better for businesses, it’s better for downtown.”